People with Addison’s disease display a complex array of autoimmune conditions, potentially genetically transmitted. Finchna et al. measured circulating antibodies in relatives of patients with Addison’s disease and examined their correlation with existing genetic risk factors.

Using this cohort of 112 female and 75 male relatives, the group examined antibody measures. They found thyroid autoantibodies to thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin were detectable in 25.1 and 17.1% of the relatives respectively.

The study found that first-degree relatives of patients with Addison’s disease, carriers of the PTPN22 rs2476601 T allele, are at particular risk of developing autoantibodies to endocrine antigens.

Read the full article in Endocrine Connections 12 e230008